Sunday, September 1, 2013

Maps of the thousands of storms that have passed through the Eastern Hemisphere tropical oceans in the past century or so reveal a more crowded landscape than similar maps of the Western Hemisphere. Unlike the Western Hemisphere, where storms are mostly confined to areas north of the equator, the Eastern Hemisphere sees storms in both north and south tropical waters.

A heat wave struck the Midwest in late August and early September 2013. This map shows the hottest temperatures in the United States between August 1 and September 8, 2013, based on data from NOAA's Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis.